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Distinguished Member

over here, zwilling is henckels. for years the two big kitchen knives sold in the us were henckels and wusthoff (and a trickle of the various sabatier brands). for me, wusthoff was a much better knife. and then along came all the japanese knives, etc. henckels (zwilling) is a decent supermarket knife, but that's pretty much it. is it different in the EU?

A fantasy is when you have an unlimited supply of sodium alginate, a couple dozen oysters, and too much free time.
I have to say, there is nothing quite like that sinking feeling you get after you've shaved the last slice of truffle.

Distinguished Member

over here, zwilling is henckels. for years the two big kitchen knives sold in the us were henckels and wusthoff (and a trickle of the various sabatier brands). for me, wusthoff was a much better knife. and then along came all the japanese knives, etc. henckels (zwilling) is a decent supermarket knife, but that's pretty much it. is it different in the EU?

I have a Henckels that I like. It's not one of their top end lines, but it works fine.

Unfortunately, I can honestly say that I wouldn't buy it again since the $23 Victorinox knife is better in most ways. The Victorinox/Forschner was also better than another knife I recently compared it directly against (can't remember if it was the 8" henckels Twin Pro-S or the Wustoff Classic since they both look alike).

A fantasy is when you have an unlimited supply of sodium alginate, a couple dozen oysters, and too much free time.
I have to say, there is nothing quite like that sinking feeling you get after you've shaved the last slice of truffle.

Distinguished Member

they're usually around $100. Wusthoff and Global are roughly the same.

A fantasy is when you have an unlimited supply of sodium alginate, a couple dozen oysters, and too much free time.
I have to say, there is nothing quite like that sinking feeling you get after you've shaved the last slice of truffle.

you're way ahead of most. every time someone starts going on about the newest single-bevel gyuto, I want to ask: "but how does it feel in your hand?" (no homo) and "but do you know how to use it and keep it sharp?" (come to think about it ...). some of the best cooks i learned from did most of their work with restaurant supply knives (like forschner).

A fantasy is when you have an unlimited supply of sodium alginate, a couple dozen oysters, and too much free time.
I have to say, there is nothing quite like that sinking feeling you get after you've shaved the last slice of truffle.

RINO

I still love my Takamura Pro 240 but it's got a chip that many sessions on the stones have not been able to remove. So I have to send it out.

As a backup, I picked up a Masamoto VG. Korin had a pretty good discount, and I don't know if it's the currency or what, but this knife is a lot cheaper than it was even five years ago. Well under $200. Korin sharpened it 70/30 for free. It's crazy sharp.

Supposedly these have finish problems. If that is true, then I either lucked out or else Korin deliberately sent me a good one. The finish is perfect. Very nice handle.

This is a stamped knife, single alloy, unlike the Takamura which is forged with two alloys. With Takamura prices up and Masamoto down, with the discount, the new knife was less than half the Takamura. Although Takamura includes a saya and Masamoto does not, so that's an extra ~$25.

Anyway, the Masamoto is highly recommended. If I didn't already have the Takamura and just had this, I would probably be very happy and never know what I was missing.

I almost bought carbon but chickened out. I have a strange yearning for a carbon honyaki, but I fear I will not be able to sharpen one. Plus, I really do not need one ...

Senior Member

Manton, I bought a blue steel honyaki gyuto a few years ago and there is no issue sharpening. It is way harder than my trusty Sabatier 62 and not a chipper. Can't say the same for a usuba which seems to throw a chip in its says. But for a chefs knife, go for it.

RINO

I do not use the Edge Pro much any more. I need it for my bird's beak paring knife, which I cannot sharpen any other way. But I have found that freehand on the stones is both faster and more effective. It took some trial and error (and many youtube videos) to learn how, but I can put a pretty keen edge on freehand now in 10-15 minutes.

The Masamoto will be a new challenge because the Takamura takes 50/50. I will have to learn 70/30 now.

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